Languages

Languages

The Barrie Public Library is committed to serving our changing community by adding to our collections of materials in languages other than English and French.

Multilingual materials

Multilingual materials are available at both library branches with the larger collection at the Downtown location. Books and DVDs may be transferred between branches and all materials may be returned to either location.

Adult Material

Chinese - books*, DVDs**, magazines*

Dutch - books, DVDs, magazines

German - books, DVDs, magazines

Hindi - books, DVDs, magazines

Italian - books, DVDs

Japanese - DVDs, magazines

Korean - books, DVDs

Polish - books, DVDs

Punjabi (Panjabi) - DVDs

Russian - books, DVDs

Spanish - books, DVDs, magazines

Tagalog - books, DVDs

Urdu - books, DVDs, magazines

Vietnamese - books, DVDs

Children's Material

Arabic - books

Chinese - books

German - books

Italian - books

Korean - books

Polish - books

Russian - books

Spanish - books

Tagalog - books

Urdu - books

*traditional and simplified script **Cantonese and Mandarin

Who are these collections for?

new and established immigrants, international students, and migrant workers

language learners who have mastered the basics of a language and want to get to know its films and literature

second or third generation Canadians who want to appreciate their heritage language

any person with an interest in materials that present different cultural perspectives

the general public may enjoy most DVDs which have subtitles in English and other languages

The collections

The adult multilingual collections consist of a growing number of fiction and non-fiction books, DVDs (both feature and documentary), and magazines in a variety of languages.

The languages chosen represent some of the most popular mother tongues and home languages, after English and French, spoken in Barrie and Oro-Medonte. They reflect the languages of both the long-standing and newly-arrived immigrant groups in the area. As the population and interests change, so will the language selections change.

If there are materials in other languages you wish to borrow but are not stocked by the Library, please make a request at the Information Services desk and Library staff will try to obtain them for you through the interlibrary loan system.

If you have any questions about the Library’s multilingual collections, please feel free to contact us using our Online Form.